And we are live! Trump is on his way (pre-taped) in Mario Andretti’s race car to the studio. And his hair looked better at the end. Expect a lot of clips and flashbacks.

The contest is interspersed between live clips of the returning contestants. The Magic Johnson snafu? Solved. More video is on the way. Debbie Gibson is complaining about being micromanaged but like Clay said, he is the only one who can get fired tonight.

Adam Carolla is going to write material for Paul Sr. and Teresa, which is a relief for Lisa. Problem is Arsenio needs to take control.

Clay is doing a carnival theme since his charity is for children. When they get to the event space, he finally gets to see the sketches from Debbie’s cousin, which may be undoable.

Clay to Aubrey: “Would you let me do it, since it’s my show?” Aubrey got upset because Clay was “stepping on her toes” and “without us there would be no show.” Can I say one last time, SHUT UP YOU OBNOXIOUS SELF-CENTERED NOTHING? Thanks, I will.

Victoria Gotti called Lisa and Aubrey “crude rude and classless.” That was John Gotti’s daughter speaking, please bear in mind, so she should know. That was the pot calling the kettle black but in this case the pot is correct.

The events start and the big donors get in first. They only have 75 seats each so if you were on line and were planning to donate 50 bucks forget it.

We then had the Lisa montage, which made her look about as good as you’d expect.

Trump to Paul Sr.: “You’re a much different guy on Celebrity Apprentice than we’ve seen elsewhere. Which is the real Paul?”
Paul: “This is.” HAHAHAHAHAhahahahahaah! This is the real Paul Sr.:

The events began with Clay and Arsenio onstage together talking about their charities. It is nice that they seem to genuinely get along. It continued with Adam Carolla’s stand up, which was actually pretty good considering I did not like him befofre this show. Most of the humor was at Trump’s expense. The Donald is usually a good sport about that.

During Clay’s show, Dee and Debbie sang baby love. Would you have expected that from Dee?

Aubrey sang I will survive and said: “Everyone knew I should have been in the final two.” Once more. SHUT UP YOU OBNOXIOUS SELF-CENTERED NOTHING.

Dee sang, Clay sang, they all sang. It was only in small clips but I think Clay put on the better show.

It may sound like I am giving the show short shrift today, but like all finales there is a lot of fluff.

So who raised more money in the finale? Clay, with over $301,000. but don’t feel bad for Arsenio’s charity, he gets to keep the money he raised.

At 10:30 Clay and Arsenio entered the theater for the live show. After the break they sang together, Lean on Me. then another break.

When we come back, we are treated to a montage of past Celebrity Apprentice winners. Then Clay and Arsenio explain why they should win. “I don’t want my mother to sit through me losing on tv again,” said Clay. “I was always number two. I need to be number one,” saiud Arsenio.

This is it. One more will be fired when the show opens and the remaining two will fight it out.

Clay. Aubrey. Arsenio.

The show starts right were it ended last week. Trump is grilling the final three and is getting ready to fire one of them. It looks like Arsenio might go (he’s getting a lot of heat for his outburst and language) but by now I give up trying to predict this.

CLAY AIKEN VS. ARSENIO HALL!

Trump: “Here you are, the final two.”
Clay: “I’m having a little deja vu.” LOL!

Score one for the good guys!

The next thing, aside from the task, is to see which contestants come back. I have three spoilers.

Spoiler #1: Lou Ferrigno is not coming back. That was confirmed by
Spoiler #2: Dee Snyder is coming back. He was on a radio show here in NYC where he said he’d be back. “They bring back the good contestants, that’s why Lou Ferrigno won’t be there.”
Spoiler #3: Not that big a spoiler, I took this from the commercial for the show. (BTW, don’t try to play it, it is only a screen cap.)

Aubrey was picked last. “Haters are hating once again,” she convinced herself.

Clay got the three singers, not a bad deal for a task centered around entertainment.

Arsenio is doing and 80’s theme, as in we left all this old 80’s stuff behind, what about HIV? Not a bad idea, but what about the entertainment? Clay seems to have that cornered.

On the other hand he has to work with Penn. Clay chose him to show that he could work with anyone, even someone he fought with. Not a bad idea, but Penn is being Mr. Contrary again.

So who did not come back? Lou Ferrigno, George Takei, Cheryl Tiegs, Dayana Mendoza, Tia Carrere, Patricia Velasquez, Michael Andretti, and Victoria Gotti, thank goodness. And do you miss any of them?

On the other hand, Aubrey is being Aubrey. You know what I mean. she has these ideas that for some reason no one tells her they suck. They just go along with her.

Meanwhile, as Team Arsenio was shooting their 80’s video, Team Clay was having trouble finding a spot to shoot their video. They needed a place with a lot of grass for kids to play. Hmmm, New York City, lots of grass… Central Park anyone? Seems so obvious to me. However, they found a patch of grass in a housing project and shot the video.

On Arsenio’s side, they plan to put Magic Johnson in the video but they are having trouble getting it set up.

Meanwhile, Aubrey’s jealousy of Debbie boils back up. Say what you will about Debbie’s career, we all know Aubrey will never reach Debbie’s level. That may be sad but it is true. Meanwhile, it was Debbie’s turn to argue with Clay. Clay, as he said had to make the decisions. After all, he is the only one on the chopping block. Debbie has a big role this week. She got her cousin to do a mural for Clay and all Clay wants is to see a sketch. Debbie is asking for him to trust her. OK, but this is the finale! Debbie can’t get fired in the boardroom, he HAS TO have the final decision.

On the strange side, Lisa called Clay to tell him she’d be making a contribution to his charity. Why? To be nice? Maybe, but she is on the other side. What if Clay raises a hair more than Arsenio? It would be her money that put him over!